Van Gelder photographs raw
meat and entrails, either as he
finds it in the marketplace, or
after arranging it into contorted
compositions, as if staged for a
formal portrait. Sinewy ligaments
are stretched against planes of
taut, semi-transparent flesh; ripped, sagging muscles hang
loosely; knuckles and feces
jut and spurt from between
incisions in the animals' skin.
Whereas portraiture delves into
the soul of the sitter, Van Gelder's
Meat Portraits literally delve
inside their subjects, exposing
the findings in an unrestrained
portrayal of corporeality.

As the artist says, "African butchers don't use electric saws as Europeans do but cut up the meat by hand which
produces a variety of styles. The slaughterhouse was in the open air and in front of it a small
market where they would sell the still warm meat. I worked there on and off for one year
producing my Meat Portraits. I consider these portraits still lives."

Initially, the Meat Portraits revolt and nauseate, but there is a strange beauty
underlying their initial impact. Van Gelder is concerned with the transitory state between life and
death — as Gelder said, they are still-life photographs. This
distinction highlights that the carnal remains in the Meat Portraits are now lifeless objects as
opposed to living organisms. Bloodied and still pink, the redness of these objects acts as a sign
of recent life. In this way, the Meat Portraits are reminiscent of the traditional African deathbed
portraits that Van Gelder collects, where a photograph of the deceased is placed alongside
their bed, around which the family gathers to pose for a photograph in a ritual to commemorate
the passing of a loved one.

—Alex van Gelder, Hauser & Wirth Gallery

Editor's Note: This series was shown as part of an exhibition at the Hauser & Wirth Gallery in London.

In the only Maoist village in China, the housing and electricity are free, the healthcare is provided—but underneath the harmonious, untroubled surface lies a deep uneasiness about the projected image of perfection.

For this
series, Daniel
Gordon first
creates three-dimensional sculptures—made from collages of printed digital
imagery borrowed from magazines and the Internet—and then photographs them with
a 4 x 5 view camera. With these appropriated materials, his subjects and
compositions reference Modernist masters like Picasso, Dalí, Matisse, and
Cézanne.